Wall construction



Nov. 15, 1927.

R. C. MWANE WALL CONSTRUCTION jfofierf C. M Wane,

INVENTOR.

fl/f ATTORNEY.

Patented Nov. 15.1927.

nonzero. nowaiwdjornrnenwoon, NEW .uinsnir.

' warnficonsrnnc'rion.

1 Lpj ltoation'fled m 27, 1926. Serial No. 125,206.

My. invention relates to wall constructions and particularly to theconstruction of walls made up has features that make "the improvement of5 particular utility in connection with outside walls. It has for itsobject the/provision of walls of this general class which shall have thefollowing three all-important character: they shall not they shall 7not;

istics: They shall be stron transmit heat readily, an

permit moisture to penetrate from-one side of the wall to the other. Afurther obj of the invention is to provide building blocks." tomanufacture;

" extending from to to bottom, and separated .from each other ythe wall3. Two such blocks are assembled at the place of manuwhich shall beinexpensive and easy to assemble into wallswith the'threlecharacteristics mentioned.

Walls of the type to which this invention? refers are commonly built upof individual blocks each block made? up of a suitablecementsan'd-gravel or other These blocks usuall have] both to save weigt and" cement or concrete desired mixture. interior air spaces expenseand to make the completed wall a better heat insulator.

and efficient as those herein disclosed. Simi larly the desirability ofhaving the wall moistureand heat-proofhas long been felt, and manysuggestions will be found inv the prior art to accomplish these ends.None of them however have proved successful, and none of them have beenas simple, cheap and satisfactory as the means herein disclosed.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein Fig. 1'shows a projected View of a portion of a wall embodying my improvement,portions hav ng been broken away to make the construction clearer; Fig.2 s

ows a topview of one of the blocks according to my invention; Fig. 3

of blocks ofcement orconcrete, and

The blocks are set in. mortar or the equivalent as the wall is built fshows a sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. '2; Fig. 4 shows on anenlarged scale a keyor anchor which I employ in the construction of theblocks; and Fig. 5 shows a Ziew similar to that of Fig. 1 of amodificaion.

Each individual block according to my in- VQI1t10I1 1S,tO begin with,composed of two portions which are made entirely separate from eachother. These two parts are preferably symmetrical and their form iseasily discerned from the drawing. Each'half is .of rectan ularprismatic shape provided with two ,para lel,-.'-rectangular air spaces 1and 2 facture to constitute one'complete block or {building unitto beused for the wall con- 'struction. In assemblin H a I the two halves asheet of insulating material whose properties {are hereinafter specifiedis used, shown at A, which is somewhat shorter than the blocks are longandsomewhat narrower than the blocks are wide. ,In practice a differenceof about an inch in each direction will be found about the right amount.I do not however wish to be understood as limiting myself to anydefinite amount. Whatever the amount is, itwill be seen from thefollowing description that it is desirable that the difference in;length and the difference in width be the same for all blocks. The sheetoff-material is so placed between the two'halves of the block that thesame amount of free space remains at the two ends, the top and thebottom of the sheet.

In moulding the halves of the block each of them has been provided withfour narrow slots or depressions, 4-4, two of them in the top surfaceand two in the'bottom surface, and. extending inward from the surfaceswhich are to face each other. Their position and shape will be clearfrom an inspec- (see Fig. 3) that the bottom of been placed in therelative position above described, with the sheet of material betweenthem, the keys 6 are forced into place. These keys are made of metal andhave the shape illustrated in Fig. 4. The two ends-of each key are bentso they are at an angle with the central longer straight portion, thisangle being something more than a right angle. The result is that whenthe key is forced into place as stated, it exerts a wedging .action anddraws the two halves of the block together. The keys are forced down sothat they do not project out beyond the sheet A and the slots are thenfilled up with cement. Care is taken at this point not to till up thespaces 7 between the two halves. This can readily be avoided bytemporarily placing a piece of wood in the space between the two blockhalves while the slots are being filled up. After the four keys havebeen forced and cemented into place as described, the block is virtuallyas strong as if it were a unitary structure, and it is then ready forthe assembling operation.

In assembling the blocks into a wall, the vertical joints 88 are brokenin the usual way, so that those of any one course are outof line withthose of the adjoining courses above and below. The partition betweenthe two sets of block halves is completed or made continuous by theinsertion of the horizontal strips BB and the vertical strips CC, bothalso made of the same material and of the same thickness as the sheet A.The horizontal strips preferably extend for a length of at least twoblocks. The vertical ones are of the same length as the width of thesheet A, although this arrangement can obviously be modified.

Vertically and horizontally at 88 the blocks are set in mortar or otherpreferred material in the usual manner.

From the above it will be seen that in effect there is produced a wallof two firmly united halves separated by a continuous partition of theinsulating material. And this is an important feature of my invention.It the outside of a wall is exposed to rain or some other source ofmoisture, this moisture readily penetrates the concrete or cement, andwill follow it clear through the wall, if a continuous path ispresented. To be continuous, it is not necessary that this path becontinuous at all points. If there are any bridging connections ofmoisture conducting material, the inner wall will become moist. But withmy entire separation of the two halves of the wall by insulatingmaterial the moisture can never penetrate farther than to thisimpervious layer. The material preferably used is one obtainable on themarket under the name of celotex and is peculiarly adapted to this use,as it is to all intents and purposes impervious to moisture. Itpossesses in addition the desirable quality that it is a very good heatinsulator. A layer of the thickness I interpose between the two halvesof my wall will protect against heat radiation about as well as two feetof solid concrete would. The wall according to my construction istherefore very good from this standpoint. Of course any other materialwith the properties mentioned will answer.

One of the objections architects have had against the use of concreteblocks is that a wall built up of them is weak. And this is true if thewall be built by any of the 'be sheared off, and as, in addition to itsother desirable properties, this material has great strength, greatforce would be required to break through a wall constructed asdescribed.

In the modification illustrated in Fig. 5, the air spaces 1 and 2 aresurrounded by cement on only three sides, the spaces being open towardthe inside of the Wall. I have shown this variation to illustrate thatmy invention is applicable to a variety of block shapes. It will benoted that my inventive idea is carried out in this form as well as inthe form first described. The wall is in effect made up of two entirelyseparated halves, with a continuous sheet of insulating material betweenthem, the horizontal and vertical strips B and 0 being used just as inthe first form. A

Some variations can obviously be made without departing from the spiritof the invention.

\Vhat I claim is 2- 1. A building block of the character describedcomprising two juxtaposed concrete halves, a sheet of moisture-proof,heat-insulating material between them smaller in both directions thanthe halves, whereby a groove is left on all four sides of the block, andanchoring means to hold the two halves firmly in their relativepositions.

2. A wall comprising building blocks made according to claim 1, andmeans to secure said blocks in position, said means comprising stripsinserted into said grooves and made of material similar to that of thesheet, each strip extending into the grooves of two adjacent blocks andabutting against the two sheets, whereby there is efiected a wall madeup of two halves separated completely from each other by a continuousheatand moisture-proof partition.

3. A wall comprising building blocks made according to claim 1, saidblocks belll) sive courses; and vertical strips of the same material andthickness each inserted into the two adjacent vertical slots of twoneighboring blocks, and binding material between juxtaposed surfaces ofneighboring blocks. 10

Signed at New York, N. Y., this 22nd day of July, 1926.

ROBERT C. McWANE.

